REVIEW: 'Anything Goes' at the Reagle is big, brassy and beautiful

By R. Scott Reedy, Correspondent

Monday

Jul 9, 2018 at 5:09 PMJul 9, 2018 at 5:10 PM

WALTHAM - A cracker-jack pit band of 16 of the best musicians around has been assembled by Music Director Dan Rodriguez for the not-to-be-missed Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston mounting of “Anything Goes” now at Waltham’s Robinson Theatre.

But one of the production’s most powerful instruments – the big, brassy, and beautiful voice of Leigh Barrett – is onstage, as the always popular performer takes on the role of evangelist-turned-supper-club-singer Reno Sweeney in the Cole Porter classic.

As she has been for years in theaters throughout greater Boston, Barrett is once again front and center. Her effervescent blend of supple vocals, warm confidence and considerable comedy chops make Barrett the ideal musical comedy star for this irresistible song-and-dance spectacular.

Detailing the comedy mayhem that ensues when a dizzily disparate array of passengers converge on an ocean liner, the book for the show - which first opened on Broadway in 1934 with Ethel Merman as Reno Sweeney - was written by P.G. Wodehouse and Guy Bolton, as well as Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse.

The book was revised by Crouse’s son, Timothy Crouse and John Weidman, first for the 1987 Lincoln Center Theater revival starring Patti LuPone, and again in 2011 for a Roundabout Theatre Company revival starring Sutton Foster. Both productions received the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.

What has never changed about “Anything Goes,” though, is its blissful, instantly familiar Porter score. There’s the title song, of course, plus “I Get a Kick Out of You,” “It’s De-Lovely,” “You’re the Top,” and many more.

In Waltham, director and choreographer Eileen Grace has assembled a company of 43 uniformly first-rate performers who display impressive precision on tap-dance numbers like act two’s splendid “Blow, Gabriel, Blow.”

The cast is led by Barrett and, in his Reagle debut, Jared Troilo as Billy Crocker, a Wall Street up-and-comer who stows away aboard the S.S. American in order to pursue a young woman who caught his eye at a cab stand.

Troilo, seen this spring in Moonbox Productions’ “Cabaret,” and an IRNE Award winner for Greater Boston Stage Company’s 2017 production of “She Loves Me,” uses his leading-man looks and smooth tenor to full advantage here.

His character navigates between onetime love Reno and the newest object of his affection, Hope Harcourt (a lovely Libby Rosenfield). When Troilo sings the wistful ballad “Easy to Love” in act one, it’s clear that the lyric could also easily apply to Billy.

Serving up a healthy portion of the laughs is J.T. Turner, whose expressive face is made for mugging and who does just that as Public Enemy #13, “Moonface” Martin. And Turner provides more than comic relief – he’s also a pure delight on “Friendship,” his act-one duet with Barrett.

As Hope’s wealthy fiancé, Lord Evelyn Oakleigh, the lanky Mark Linehan delivers more than a few laughs with his deft portrayal of the befuddled Brit. Ansley Speares is also great fun as Erma, Moonface’s ever-loyal and always game girlfriend.

Terrific, too, are Rick Sherburne as Billy’s billionaire boss Elisha J. Whitney, Rich Allegretto as the ship’s quick-footed Captain, Tom Sawyer as his Purser, Karen Fanale as the haughty Mrs. Harcourt, and Shannon Cheong and Paul Sanford as John and Luke, a pair of Chinese converts and reformed gamblers.

Add in an array of dazzling evening wear, crisp sailor uniforms, well-tailored tuxedoes, and stylish cruise attire from Costume World Theatrical, and a ship-shape set by Sceneographics, and you have an “Anything Goes” that is everything anyone could want.